Works on Islamic History and Culture
The e-book collection comprises 248 volumes (189 works) of editions of literary works and essays on Iranian cultural history dating back to as early as the 10th century.
The texts in Persian and Arabic languages mainly cover historical, geographical and philosophical topics.
The collection was originally published by the Written Heritage Research Institute (Miras Maktoob), a non-governmental organization in Tehran.
All e-books can be downloaded as PDF and searched in full text. The collection is available free of charge in Germany and in German research institutions abroad via national licence.
The Miras Maktoob Research Institute in Tehran not only publishes critical editions of Persian and Arabic manuscripts; it is also engaged in scholarly research in the fields of text linguistics, text history, codicology, cataloging of manuscripts, cultural heritage of Iran and the Iranian cultural area, and history of science.
Before the Islamic Revolution of 1978 / 1979, in Iran two institutions were renowned for their critical editions of historical texts, the Cultural Foundation of Iran (Bunyād-i Farhang-i Īrān) and the Book Translation and Publishing Society (Bungāh-i Tarǧuma va Našr-i Kitāb).
After the revolution, only occasionally historical texts were published by state institutions such as the University Publishing Center (Markaz-i Našr-i Dānešgāhī). Apart from these, Miras Maktoob is the only non-governmental institute publishing critical editions of historical texts.
The Research Institute was founded in 1993 as the Publication Office for Written Heritage (Daftar-i Našr-i Mīrāṯ-i Maktūb) to promote scholarly research dedicated to the preservation of written heritage. Since 2005, it is officially known as the Research Institute for Written Heritage (Muʾassis-i Pažūhišī-i Mīrāṯ-i Maktūb).
Publications are issued in various series which are divided into 16 subject areas, including Persian language and literature, Islamic scholarship, science and technology, history and geography, textual research, translations and catalogs of manuscripts, essays, commemorative publications, and conference proceedings.
For the most part, the texts studied at Miras Maktoob are in Persian language. However, some of the texts published in series other than Persian language and literature are also of outstanding historical importance in their Persian versions.
In their series “Work Report of Researchers in Islamic and Iranian Studies” (Kārnāma-i Dānišvarān-i Islām va Īrān), Miras Maktoob publishes simplified adaptations of the texts, addressed to people who are not involved in scholarly research in this field, especially young people.
In addition, Miras Maktoob publishes three journals:
- The “Mirror of Cultural Heritage” (Āyina-i Mīrāṯ) is a bi-monthly journal with bibliographies, reviews, and information on textual research.
- The “Cultural Heritage Report” (Guzāriš-i Mīrāṯ) is a quarterly journal on textual criticism in codicology and Iranian Studies.
- The “Scientific Heritage of Iran and Islam” (Mīrāṯ-i ʿilmī-i Īrān va Islām) is a bi-monthly journal in the field of history of science and technology in the Islamic era.
Miras Maktoob has organized and participated in various conferences and co-operations with institutions in Iran as well as abroad, such as UNESCO, cultural institutions in Turkey, the Institute of Iranian Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Osaka University of Foreign Studies in Japan, and Lahore University in Pakistan.
The E-Book collection exclusively is available at Brill.